The Aftermath

Prompt: In which Killian tells Regina to blame him as well and then comforts Emma after Regina yells at her for not thinking about the consequences of her actions.

"You?" Regina turned to face her. Her voice was shaking, and Emma could see the pain in her eyes as she watched Robin reunite with his thought to be dead wife. "You did this?"

Emma was stunned. She should have known better than to think that a random woman she saved would have no consequence, "I just wanted to save her life," Emma tried to explain to her, hoping she would understand. She didn't mean to ruin Regina's new relationship. After all, wasn't her mom ruining her first one the reason why the curse came to pass?

Regina shook her head in anger, "You're just like your mother! Never thinking of consequences."

"I didn't know," Emma tried to reason. She could see Killian standing up from the far table that he was sitting in. Her parents seemed to be watching both her and Regina, as well as Robin's family reunion.

"Of course you didn't," Regina all but spat at her. "Well you just better hope to hell that you didn't bring anything else back."

"Don't blame her, Regina," Hook said as he came to her defense. "There's no way Emma could have predicted it. You were set to execute both of them. You probably don't even remember because we had different faces, but you caught her at David's would be engagement party to Princess Kathryn, and threw her in prison. She escaped, but she couldn't just let someone die."

"What, so now this is my fault?" Regina asked, enraged. "You're the one who changed the past, and you're blaming me? Ms. Swan at least barely knew any better, but what about you, Pirate? You know al about magic. Why didn't you stop her? Or did the lady seduce you into being her lapdog?"

"Don't you dare talk about my daughter that way," David said standing up.

"Regina, you've changed for the better now," Snow tried. "You've matured, and become a better person. Don't let this revert you back to your old ways."

"Give me one reason why I shouldn't just kill you here and now?" Regina snarled as she faced Emma. "It would save me the years I spent going after your mother."

"Because I'm stronger than you. I got my magic back," Emma said, standing up straighter. "And I'm not alone. Do you really think you can beat me and everyone else here? Besides, you won't. You won't kill someone Henry loves."

Regina turned to face her son, who was looking at her in utter shock.

"Mom, they're right. You can't blame her for not knowing," Henry pleaded. "Please, you've come so far! You've changed. Don't go back to who you were before."

Robin finally seemed to notice that something was happening, "Regina-" he tried, but she raised her hand to stop him.

"Don't bother. I know when I'm not wanted," Regina said. She vanished with a poof of purple smoke, abandoning the diner.

"I didn't know," Emma said softly, as Killian wrapped his arms around her. "I should have listened to you, Killian, and left her there. I didn't think she could affect the future like this. I should have known better. For God's sake, Back to the Future is an entire trilogy about what happens when you change the past."

He simply pulled her in tighter, "I could have insisted that you left her there, Emma. If we keep playing the could have game, we could go in circles for hours. You have a kind heart, and couldn't leave anyone to her fate."

"What fate?" Robin cut in. "Marian, what fate? All I know is that one day you left, and the next thing I heard was that you were dead."

"I should have been," Marian whispered. "I supported Snow White, and I aided her, but not revealing her location."

"I remember you," Snow said softly. "I never did get a chance to thank you."

"It was worth it. But when Regina found out, she wanted my head. She was about to execute me. I met Emma in the prison that night, and she got out. She should have left me; anyone else would have. But like her mother," Marian said, nodding towards Snow, "she had too kind a heart to do so. She saved me."

Robin looked so torn. Emma could guess why, he thought his wife was dead, and he attempted to move on, with the woman who tried to kill his wife in the first place. She definitely didn't pity him.

She moved closer to Killian, and he held her tighter as he seemed to read her mind, "Emma, stop feeling bad, Love. You are a wonderful loving person, who gives people far more chances than they probably deserve. It's one of the things I like about you. If you didn't save her, you would have acted like a person completely different to who you were. And who knows, if you left her to die, then maybe something different would have happened, and the future would be affected. What would happen if Regina found out she had killed Robin's wife? She would have been torn between telling him, and hiding it. It might have ruined the relationship all the same."

She let his words sink in, hearing the truth in them. She knew he was right, but she still felt so bad about everything.

"I know," she whispered softly. "Thank you, for everything."

He nodded in acknowledgement, without moving her away from her, but instead pulling her in tighter.

She could tell that her parents were watching their interaction closely, but she didn't feel like explaining anything to them yet. Emma and Killian had yet to define what their relationship was, but she refused to stop pushing him away anymore. He was hers, and it was time she let herself be his. He had gone after her time and time again; he had helped her get home, even though she double crossed him, he had helped save her son, he had bought her back from New York, and gone after her when she fell through a time portal with no assurance of his own safety, even though she hadn't given him a single sign she cared for him, apart from that kiss in Neverland.

He kept chasing after her, and fighting for her. She knew he wasn't going anywhere.

Her parents and Henry was where she belonged, but Killian was her home too. It seemed like what everyone had been trying to tell her finally made sense. She was running away because she was scared about letting people in again, and she disguised that under a pretense of good intentions, which she honestly believed in. But Emma was done with all of that. She wasn't going anywhere either.

Robin sat down; trying to take in all the information he had received. The next few days were going to be interesting. Emma would also have to make sure that nothing else had changed.

That was the last thing they needed.

A/N: That episode though. Like I had fully intended to write after watching it, but I was so filled with emotion after it, and I couldn't do a single thing. But today I felt so motivated when I saw this prompt, and even had a few other ideas come to mind. But I would never say no if someone wants to send me a prompt to write!